Event

Growing up on Staten Island, filmmakers Joshua Zeman andBarbara Brancaccio had often heard the legend of Cropsey.For the kids in their neighborhood, Cropsey was the escapedmental patient who lived in the old abandoned WillowbrookMental Institution, who would come out late at night and snatchchildren off the streets. Sometimes Cropsey had a hook for a hand,other times he wielded a bloody axe, but it didn't matter, Cropseywas always out there, lurking in the shadows, waiting to get them.Later as teenagers, the filmmakers assumed Cropsey was just anurban legend: a cautionary tale used to keep them out of thoseabandoned buildingsand stop them from doingall those things that teenagerslike to do. That allchanged in the summer of1987 when a 12-year-oldgirl with Down syndrome,named JenniferSchweiger, disappearedfrom their community.That was the summer allthe kids from Staten Islanddiscovered that theirurban legend was real.Now as adults Joshua and Barbara have returned to StatenIsland to create Cropsey, a feature documentary that delves intothe mystery behind Jennifer and four additional missing children.The film also investigates Andre Rand, the real-life boogeyman linkedto their disappearances. Embarking on a mysterious journey intothe underbelly of their forgotten borough, these filmmakers uncovera reality that is more terrifying than any urban legend. (USA,2010, 84 min., color)